


can't live without you.

by TeamSeaSlug



Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Gilbert is hopelessly in love, Multi, Polyamory, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2018-08-28 17:24:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8455318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamSeaSlug/pseuds/TeamSeaSlug
Summary: A collection of drabbles from a Modern, Poly AU. Will update tags as I go on, may add in other relationships and the rating may even go up.





	1. Awake & Unfold

**Author's Note:**

> Because if you want fanfiction you have to write it yourself. I'll try and update this as frequently as I can, but I have been wanting poly Pandora Hearts for way too long.
> 
> I wrote this while listening to Pandora's "Chillwave" Radio. Can you tell?

The mornings were always the most surreal, where he could wake up to see light pouring in from the curtains and for a moment, forgetting who he was and what had ever happened in his life. Sometimes he would see the pale light of the early day flood into his room and pause, laying there, Alice sandwiched in between one arm and his torso (drooling and snoring, her hair spread all over the damn place, as always) and Oz with his face burrowed in the crook of his neck, breath ghosting over his skin and tickling him delicately. He would wake up, take a moment to remember who he was and what was happening in his life, and then debate whether or not he should move.

  
Rarely did Gilbert wake them when he moved, but it was something he wanted to avoid doing anyways. Oz would stay up late pouring over his Psychology textbooks, illuminated by the desk lamplight next to a mug of coffee and chewing on the end of Gilbert's pen (he always did that, it was a bad habit, and he only did it to Gilbert's pens, of all things!), so when he did get sleep he looked so delicate and peaceful that Gilbert didn't want even the morning or the young man's responsibilities to wake him. And Alice, wild Alice could be so jumpy sometimes. She could go to sleep and then pop right back up in mere moments, she could hear a feather silently float onto carpet with those sharp ears of hers and hop right back up, a little drowsy but still functioning. It baffled him.

  
There were also moments where in the dead of night she woke up crying very softly, but he dared not speak of those. Her own pride wouldn't allow him to. All he could ever do was stroke her long, black hair and kiss her forehead until the storm passed. She would never share with him what this was about.

  
However endearing his partners were, though, he had to move in the morning. He had a life, a job, and responsibilities. He would gently peel his arm away from Alice, careful not to wake her slumber, and reluctantly move himself from Oz, helping his face find the pillow and watch him sigh, sleep undisturbed and breathing still regular. He'd sit up, watch the two for a brief moment, consider crawling back into bed with them before he entered the real, adult world and left the safe haven of their shared bed.

  
Shower, brush teeth, make breakfast. Go for a morning run, have a morning smoke, that was the plan. Share a cup of coffee with Oz, watch Alice eat her breakfast with a ferocity and wolfishness that would normally say that she didn't get enough food, but she does, she always did because he made her food every single day (but all of his complaints were hollow, because it was always flattering to hear her praises about his food, always made him feel worthwhile and wonderful). Go to work and deal with students that are either taking his class for an "easy pass" or genuinely there to learn something, which was becoming rarer and rarer. He would resist checking the group chat just barely, gritting his teeth whenever he saw the light go off on his desk while he gave lectures to too tired college students, thinking that Oz should stop sending messages while he was in his own classes and focus for once, but the days that Oz wasn't sending him stupid memes while he was teaching always felt a little bit colder, a little bit lonelier.

  
While in the shower, snapping out of his thoughts about the day ahead of him as he pushed a curtain of thick black waves out of his face, he was able to hear Alice mumbling something to herself, apparently awoken by the sound of the water in the attached bathroom. Gilbert always felt a little guilty when he woke her, especially since he took such delicate care not to. She either wouldn't get up right away- knowing that Gilbert would get started on her daily order of bacon later and what was the point of getting up when neither of your boyfriends were giving you food-, or she would bolt right up and gnaw at Oz until he woke up as well. Today seemed to be the former, though, because when Gilbert got out of the shower, fresh and smelling of spearmint (a gift from Vincent last Christmas; Gilbert wouldn't have used the shower gel normally but Oz said he liked the smell and Gilbert was unable to resist), and peaked into the bedroom with a toothbrush in his mouth Alice was on her iPhone, big eyes staring at the screen while her body was wrapped like a mummy in the sheets, hair everywhere. She had stolen the covers from Oz at some point since Gilbert left, but Oz was still sleeping peacefully.

  
"Mornin'," he mumbled to her, going back to brushing his teeth. She didn't respond to him, just crinkled her nose and kept looking whatever she was looking at on her phone. She wouldn't respond until she ate, he knew, and that was just fine.

  
When his teeth were taken care of he dressed and then took the time to remove any of Alice's long hairs from his clothing (she called it "marking her territory", Gilbert called it ridiculous and would insist that she let Sharon take care of her hair so it could stop shedding all over the damn place), exiting the bathroom and leaving it available to whoever wanted it next. Despite Alice being awake, Oz usually was the one to get ready after Gilbert, Alice always being dead last and eating in her pajamas. He peeked as he passed the bed; Alice was looking at old photos and deleting something that looked like a selfie of Break (he must of hijacked the phone, the fool) with a wrinkle of her nose. "Maybe you should put a lock on it," he mentioned as he passed. Alice grunted.

  
In the kitchen of his apartment he was able to hear them rustling around after he got started on bacon- it never failed to wake and rouse. Alice was saying something and Oz was responding in a much more quiet, sleepier tone, and Gilbert found himself smiling at the image of Oz's bed head and sleepy eyes as he leaned over and gave Alice a good morning kiss on the cheek. Gilbert took into account Oz's class schedule of the day as he looked at what was written on the shared whiteboard, being sure to accommodate him in terms of heartiness for the day and still make enough for their gluttonous girlfriend. Two sunny side up eggs for Alice, two over easy eggs for Oz. Four sausages for each of them, five pancakes they could divide amongst each other (if it got too rowdy, he could make some others). Twelve pieces of bacon, most he knew would go to Alice, made crispy and just the way she liked it. He got the coffee brewing when Oz waddled into the kitchen, carrying a blanket he must have wrestled away from Alice around his shoulders like a cloak.

  
"Morning," he greeted, and no matter how many times he heard it, his heart stopped, and the surreal, dream-like state of the mornings washed over Gilbert in awe as he stared at Oz. Beautiful, perfect, angelic, flawless Oz. All of his 5'5 glory in a single sock and Gilbert's Nirvana concert T-shirt, too big for him and covering up his faded green underwear, bathed in the pale light coming through the curtained windows. Yawning and covering his mouth politely, still a tiny bit of crust in one of his emerald eyes. His golden hairs sticking out with a bad case of bedhead, and Gilbert didn't know how in the world he could ever be so lucky.

  
It took a moment for him to find his words, as it always did. Eloquently, he let out a choked "good morning" to Oz as well, stuttering and stammering, and he wondered if this was how it would always be, if he would always swoon the moment Oz walked into the room. He loved Alice with so much of his heart, but Oz had a majesty about him that made his knees weak at the tiniest of things.

  
He was in love with both of them, but Oz would always be his first love.

  
He tore his eyes away and back to the sizzling bacon when he felt Oz press a small kiss to the back of his shirt. He knew that before Oz got ready every morning he liked to greet both him and Alice, but something about it still had his palms sweating and his face smiling like a fucking moron. He had figured he would have grown out of this by now, but he was still as silly as when Oz first leaned in and gave him a ghost of a kiss, after he had passed Gilbert's Home Economics class (and Gilbert knew, truly, Oz took that as a bullshit class), before skipping away as if nothing had ever happened and he hadn't made Gilbert's world implode in on itself.

  
The blond boy disappeared without a word to go take a shower so he could start his day, hearing him when he entered back the bedroom speak to Alice about what Gilbert was preparing, but he didn't see the girl until Gilbert had finished everything, setting them down on the table, debating on whether he should put some toast in the toaster to go with. She still had her damn phone in her hand but wasn't looking at it thankfully, "dressed" (if one could call it that) in a similar fashion to Oz, with a stolen band shirt of Gilbert's that was way too big on her, and her black panties underneath. Her hair was a disaster and Gilbert wished she would at least let him help her pin it up before bed, but he was pretty sure her hair was too strong for any sort of binding; it was black magic and powerful, ever-growing and monstrous. She hadn't properly washed her mascara off that night and it created a nasty shadow under her eyes. She had gone to bed barefoot and her feet made tiny sounds as she made her way to sit down (her red toenail polish was peeling off, he saw), not saying anything but her big eyes becoming more and more alert the closer she got to his food.

  
_She's adorable,_ Gilbert thought to himself, _imperfections and all_.

  
"Who told you you could wear my shirt?" was what actually came out of his mouth, pressing a kiss to her forehead. There was no malice in his tone and she didn't even bother to find any, knowing that it was only an empty statement. Still, she graced him with an answer:

  
"I don't need permission."

  
That was true. From Gilbert or from Oz, she took their clothes and incorporated them into her own outfits, and neither of them were going to stop her from doing so. Gilbert wasn't going to stop bringing it up, though, and he would just add it to the list of things that he "nagged" her about. He snorted to give her some sort of response as he reached into the fridge and grabbed her one of those sweet protein milkshakes she drank in the mornings because she didn't like coffee at all and didn't care much for tea either, the weirdo.

  
She kicked her feet as she ate and Gilbert sipped at his black coffee, telling him about the weather report that she read on her phone so he would know before he went on his run. He knew that while he got that out of his system she would shower, singing loudly while she did so, and get herself ready, heading to her morning class afterwards. As part-time student, she didn't have as much of a hectic schedule as Oz did, really only taking classes for the sake of taking classes and spending the rest of her day helping Sharon out with odd jobs at the salon for payment. Gilbert used to nag her about getting a real job instead of sweeping up hair and keeping things organized, using her brains for something else, but he could never imagine what she would do. Her temper was too strong to deal with people, her patience too thin. He had stopped passive-aggressively sending her job opportunities online when Oz told him that there was no point and to leave her alone, and that made him think about his actions and apologize to her. She never said if she forgave him, but he knew that she did.

  
By the time Oz finished his shower Gilbert was on his second cup and Alice was nearly done with her plate. His hair was wet and freshly washed (Oz washed his hair every day and it still stayed perfect, Gilbert could never do that), and Gilbert could even smell the citrus and floral scents coming off of him that screamed morning. He also noticed a tiny bit of shimmer to his skin, a result of the last prank from Break where he had put glitter in all of Oz's shower gels since he preferred them over soap. Oz didn't even bother to get rid of it, so he stuck with looking even more radiant than ever. It wouldn't be long before Alice was using his shower gels to get the look, too.

  
Gilbert passed him his morning coffee- he took it with cream and sugar- and as Oz drank he made polite conversation. Day schedules, Oz's psychology professor and how much work he gave, if Gilbert was going to see Reim this week, politics, that one new makeup technique Alice had learned from Sharon, some viral video, how Oz still wanted a dog. Conversation was easy and and natural, and it felt dreamy to Gilbert, even with Alice's loud voice and Oz's rising energy (infectious from Alice).

  
He knew the day would be a normal one, where he would leave to go for his run, stand on the balcony of his apartment and smoke his cigarette, and see Alice off for her morning class. Oz would then leave shortly before he did, because he always got to campus early, and Gilbert would have to focus that day and act like he wasn't dating one of his former students and his girlfriend. He would look at the jokes that Oz would say in the group chat during his breaks in between classes, see the rants Alice would post about how much people piss her off. He might even get a cup of coffee with Reim and Break after work. He would listen to the voicemail that Vincent undoubtedly left for him when he reached his car and debate calling his brother back. He'd have another smoke. Then he'd go home, and go back to the surreal and dreamy, beautiful world that he lived at home, and know that he wouldn't give it up for anything.


	2. Fresh Pot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz needs comfort, Gilbert is scared of his own love, and Alice is the loveliest of the lovely and warmer than the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was brought to you by Adele, every cover of "Hallelujah" you've ever heard, and the "Sad Songs Radio" station on Pandora. Thank you very much.

The coffee warmed him from the inside out, sweetened with dollops of cream and sugar and the mental image of Alice blowing some of the steam away before he took a sip and burned his tongue immediately because the heat. _Fresh pot_ , Oz thought to himself, thinking about how Gilbert came in to the apartment only to put on the coffee, smoke, change clothes and head out again without so much of a word. Family business, most likely, with the family he got his last name from and nothing more (Gilbert kept insisting this, though Oz knew he loved Elliot as much as a real brother would, and he was excluding Elliot out of the Nightray roots for some reason; Oz never knew why he felt the need to do this, why he hated them so much).

  
So Oz was left sitting at the desk behind the couch in the living room, staring at his laptop and textbook pretending to do some work, sipping from the mug of his fresh coffee, while Alice was draped over the couch staring at... something, Oz couldn't see, but surely it was something that was entertaining her. Usually she didn't occupy herself with something dull, but Oz couldn't hear if she was watching something because his earbuds were in and he was trying fruitlessly to get himself to focus.

  
Which usually wasn't a fruitless action. Oz was pretty in control of himself, and could make himself sit down and do his school work at the drop of the hat. A lot of times he could even do a full weeks work if he had nothing else to do that day, but his eyes kept leaving his page on _The History of Double Blind Procedures_ because he couldn't bring himself to care if it had always worked in bringing bias to the data or not. His mind kept blanking, making him feel like he wasn't in this time or realm, like he wasn't in the minimalistic and monochrome styled living room of his boyfriend.

  
Where was he, then, if not there? Why did his mind sometimes do this-- at various times, too, sometimes in class, or when he was getting lunch with Elliot on campus, or when he was picking up a secret thing of fast food that he could eat as a late snack that would be his and his only. He found himself staring into his coffee, looking at the creamy color, and no longer existing as a human being on this plane of life, just as he had all those other times.

  
Always, whenever this happened, Gilbert and Alice could pull him back and anchor him to this world. Alice was so forceful with it, but he loved it, because she showed affection in ways that made it noticed and made him see her, feel her. Even if she held his hand or leaned against his arm, she did it with force, power, and weight. Something that said _I'm here_ and in turn, made Oz realize that he was there, with her.

  
Gilbert was.... a bit different. Gilbert loved Oz with an intensity the likes of which he had never seen, and sometimes he felt that Gilbert was... scared of himself and how much he loved Oz. There was so much of him that would reach his hand out to touch Oz, to love Oz, and then he would merely pull himself away, wanting to watch from the shadows instead. The intensity didn't scare Oz at all, in fact sometimes he felt a little unworthy of such pure, unadulterated adoration, but Gilbert was afraid of himself for some reason.

  
Alice would squeeze his hand and pull Oz forcibly into her world, kiss him with a power that felt like she was trying to inject sunlight into his body. And she was so damn _warm_ all the time. Her body was like a furnace, burning brightly and chasing away the chill. Every time he left her side, he still had memories and traces of her warmth, but the chill would come creeping back into him in the form of self-doubt and minor disassociation and a scary, depressive side that he didn't want to show. But Alice would sniff it out, too in tune with his hum of life, and chase the bad feelings away with kisses and love bites and a force of affection that left him breathless every time.

  
Gilbert did everything from the shadows. He made fresh pots of coffee just the way Oz liked it and would go out of his way to make Oz's favorite food in the whole world, he would call Oz's sister and tell her about his mood so Oz could get a "surprise" call from her, he would send a request to the group chat to watch _Game of Thrones_ as a family, even if Gilbert didn't like that show. He would go out of his way to find that minor thing that Oz mentioned two months ago and leave it on Oz's desk as a small present. And in the dead of night, Gilbert would wrap his arms around him and kiss the top of his head and tell him how much he loved him, how important he was to him, with a voice trembling with more power than Oz could have ever imagined, a hurricane hidden behind sprinkles of rain.

  
Oz could make Gilbert bend to his every will and he never understood how or why. He knew he grew up a little bit privileged in family name but never felt that way in love, and sometimes acting entitled came a bit _too_ naturally for him, but he would never get why Gilbert looked at him like he was the lord sometimes and his hands would find themselves flinching to touch him. Because Oz noticed that too, especially in public, where Alice was grounded and proud and in love, Gilbert looked like he would just die if Oz said something even remotely romantic. The only times Oz had been able to get away with it was in the darkness of a movie theater, he could reach for Gilbert's hand and Gilbert would hold it, stroking his thumb with little circles. But the moment the lights came back up, he would retract his hand and stuff his hands in his pockets.

  
Was it the age thing? Oz noticed it bothered Gilbert more than anyone that knew about the relationship-- which wasn't a lot of people, by demand of Gilbert Nightray himself. He wasn't _that_ much older than him and Alice, anyways, but to Gilbert it must have seemed like the world of an age difference. The methods of their meeting was also something that Gilbert seemed to be ashamed of, refusing himself to even acknowledge Oz's flirting (though Oz could always see his neck turn red and that fidgeting, that awkward cough whenever Oz gave him attention) when Oz took his class. It was only when Oz was done Gilbert spoke of it, not even making a move but acknowledging that there was certainly something between them, but he insisted that Oz not take any of Gilbert's other classes.

  
Maybe he looked like a younger man trying to fool around with a good looking, older (than him, young for his profession) professor for... money, or so he could move out of that stuffy and suffocating house that made him want to wish for the great room to catch on fire and burn everything down with it, along with all of the bad memories hidden within those walls. Maybe Gilbert wanted to protect him from seeming like that, maybe Gilbert didn't want to seem like a questionable man with questionable intentions as a professor. But Oz was an adult and so was Gilbert, and even if he joked around about the whole sugar daddy business Oz was there because he had genuine feelings for the man, and he knew Gilbert had genuine feelings for him.

  
... So why wasn't Gilbert here now, with him staring into his mug of fresh coffee and his mind everywhere but on what he was supposed to do, his motivation for everything falling further and further?

  
He was with his family, he knew, but Oz wanted him there with him. Oz wanted him to suck it up and hold his hand in public, and not look like he was about to die if Oz said something flirtatious and suggestive in public for once, because for fucks sake, Alice and Oz did it all the time! Alice would bite at shoulders and squeeze hands and drape arms around shoulders and Oz loved every little bit of it. But even when she tried touching Gilbert, he would fluster and hiss, bat her hands away and whisper "later" like a parent or something... but he never looked as bad as he would if it was Oz.

  
He found himself tapping at his phone before he even realized he was a person again, his body just doing what it wanted, and when he realized what he was doing he felt horrid, like a selfish boy.

  
_=＾● ⋏ ●＾=: When are you coming back? I want you here._

  
It truly sunk in when he heard Alice's phone vibrate from the couch through his headphones, seeing the shape of her head move, and realizing that he had sent it to their group chat. Alice was right there and he had to open his mouth and ask for Gilbert. If he was feeling so bad, so down about everything he could have stood up, walked not very far, and flopped down with Alice so she could chase away the cold. Yet he wanted Gilbert, who left for a good reason, to leave his business and give him the attention and love he wanted.

  
_So selfish._

  
And he knew Gilbert would if he asked. All he had to do was ask and Gilbert would give him the world.

  
He kept staring at his phone, at the group chat, in minor disbelief with his own actions. He liked keeping these sort of things quiet and private, never allowing these things to reach light. He was _fine_ , he was always fine, thank you very much; Gilbert and Alice were constantly trying to pull these things out of him, though, with love and kisses in their own ways.

  
Alice wasn't saying anything in the chat, and as far as he could hear she wasn't saying anything in person. Did he make her feel bad? Oz kept looking at his hands, then at the phone. And right on cue:

  
_Raven: What's wrong? I'm on my way, I'll be there as fast as I can._

  
It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad. Oz could pull him away from anything; from his family, from his job. Oz could make him do things he was ashamed of, that he wanted to keep quiet, because... maybe that was how he felt about this entire relationship. With him, with Alice. Oz didn't doubt that Gilbert loved him- he knew that more certainly than anything in this world, more certainly than his own last name. Gilbert believed in "love at first sight", and Oz didn't at all, and Gilbert believed that event occurred when he met Oz. And he believed it so strongly that Oz couldn't help but think it, too, that Gilbert _had_ fallen in love with Oz upon first sight, as ridiculous as that idea was.

  
But Gilbert might be ashamed of this. He kept it so quiet, so private from the world, that Oz felt like he was ashamed of his own love, ashamed of Oz, ashamed of Alice. And that turned Oz's insides messily and he wanted to vomit everywhere at the thought of it, so... he wanted Gilbert here, to hold him the way that he would at the dead of night. This was something that Alice couldn't fix, even with her cleansing warmth, but that would be lovely, too. It would make him feel like a person, and less like a ghost who was barely existing. Because one of the people in this relationship wouldn't even tell his family about him, his coworkers, no one could know, and that made him feel less grounded than ever.

  
Alice had stood, and Oz was startled to feel her heat on his back, her lips on his cheek. Her hair was tickling him and she had wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind, hands locked by his chest. When had she moved? Was he so far gone that he couldn't even notice something right in front of him?

  
Her skin felt like fire, and it made him realize how freezing he had felt. The fresh coffee had been untouched and gone cold all ready. How much time had passed?

  
She removed her lips to only place them on his neck, parting them to change from a soft kiss to a harsh bite that made him fill his lungs with air from his nose. She didn't speak, just removed her teeth from his skin to quietly inspect the bite mark, and give it another kiss.

  
Comforting him. Alice continued this action, kissing and biting, all over his neck, his shoulder, his cheek, and he was left looking at her hands, at the pieces of her hair that he could see in his vision. She was pulling him back with her warmth, with her affections, and keeping him grounded as long as she could until Gilbert got back, which wouldn't be long, it could never be long since it was asked for.

  
Oz wondered what Gilbert had said to get to leave from the family meeting. The Nightray's were serious people and had "family meetings" once every few months that could not be canceled or avoided. All of them would be there- Gilbert, Vincent, Elliot, Vanessa, Ernest, Claude, Bernard, Bernice.... Oz knew that he had interrupted it, and Gilbert probably stood up during it and left. In bitter humor, he tried assuring himself that Gilbert hadn't wanted to be there in the first place and was probably thanking Oz in his car.

  
"Don't worry," he heard Alice whisper in his ear, before pressing a small kiss to the lobe. "You're with family. We love you."

  
If he wasn't better about letting things out, he would have sobbed, leaning back into her touch and allowing himself to be reminded that he was a person, that he existed, that people loved him. And he knew that Gilbert would come in, like a whirlwind, make him another fresh pot of coffee, and exist on the edge of darkness, watching him and waiting for instructions on how to love him-- and when Oz would open his arms and show him that he was wanted, Gilbert would kiss him and tell him how much he truly loved him, just as Alice would without request.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The group chat names are:
> 
> ALICE!!! --> Alice.  
> Raven --> Gilbert.  
> =＾● ⋏ ●＾= --> Oz.


	3. maybe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woah, hey there everybody. I didn't abandon this.
> 
> tbh I constantly write stuff for this (mainly holiday ones) and just never finish them because I suck at finishing things.... even though this is just a colleciton of drabbles more than anything :/ 
> 
> sorry about that. Anyways, here's some Break and Gilbert hanging out.

"For the last time, Break, _Three Days Grace_ is not a shitty band and I'd prefer it if you got that through your thick skull."

"Oh ho! Getting defensive over nothing as always? How old are you again?"

Gilbert snarled but didn't bother responding this time. It didn't matter that much to him, anyways, but Break knew how to push his buttons in the most unimportant yet irritating ways. He directed his attention instead to his cup of coffee, nearly done despite just recently ordering it. He probably shouldn't have drank it that fast, but whatever, he had too many papers to read so he might as well get in the zone.

After not receiving a response, Break fell silent as well, finishing off his cake pop in less than two bites. Gilbert didn't understand why he liked those things so much- they were too sweet, and too little of a thing for such a high price. Break then poured ungodly amounts of sugar into his tea like he was some sort of hummingbird, and took the stick of the cake pop out of his mouth to finally drink what was no longer tea and more sugar-water.

Other than the cake pop thing, Gilbert didn't understand a lot about Break. He listened to weird music that no one's ever heard of ( _honestly, Break had no right to judge his music taste!_ ), dressed like the worst part of the thrift store came and attacked him, was a horrid conversation partner, acted like an atrocious child, and yet managed to have two absolutely _wonderful_ partners. Really, what could this guy be bringing to the table for Reim and Sharon? He supposed they saw something in him...

Gilbert wondered what he saw in Break, and why he hung out with him so frequently.

It wasn't exactly a planned thing. Gilbert and Break frequented the same cafe, had mutual friends, and similar relationship situations- and as someone who had never met another couple in a polyamorous relationship before, he felt some sort of need to be closer to the community. Break was a veteran in more ways than one, and Gilbert knew he could learn a lot from him.

Gilbert would often come to this cafe to focus on lesson plans and grade papers with a change of scenery (by that, meaning, not at his apartment or at the Nightray's), and Reim used to stop by a lot with Break in tow, and the three men would sit and catch up with each other. Gilbert liked this a lot, way more than he'd openly admit- he'd always admired Reim, he wanted more interaction with other polyamorous couples, and sometimes it was nice to have a social life outside of his partners, his classes, and his family. He could call Reim a friend.

But Reim got a promotion so Break has been showing up to cafe solo. He'd sit by Gilbert and type at his computer with slender, pale fingers (so, so pale- paler than Gilbert had ever seen before), occasionally making sarcastic comments to Gilbert that were a poor representation of a conversation. And Gilbert, on his own computer, drinking his coffee and reading papers sent barely before the deadlines, would make poor, sarcastic comments right back.

Would he call Break a friend?

He didn't know. He only knew that he noticed the days that he was absent, too. In a way, he'd rather take the schoolyard level teasing and absurd remarks then nothing.

After a good long while of silence from the both of them, Gilbert finally perked up on his own accord, looking up from his computer to give his eyes a bit of a break. "How's Reim doing?"

"He's fine. Busy." Break didn't look away from his computer screen, one visible eye reading something that Gilbert didn't even know. He heard a long time ago, from Reim himself, that Break was missing the other eye- only more recently had Gilbert caught a glimpse of the socket, briefly, like it was a ghost. Sharon did a good job of keeping his hair styled so it didn't stand out; Vincent, his brother, hated attention on his odd eyes, and although it wasn't the same situation, Gilbert wouldn't be surprised if Break did, too.

"Works a lot longer hours then what he used to. Makes better money, too." Break eventually added this, but still didn't bother to look at him to make the conversation more polite. Gilbert started to feel a bit foolish.

"Ah... and Sharon?"

"She's fine. Business is doing well." Again, he said this without looking up, and then ended it there.

And that was all there was to their conversation. Gilbert came in wearing a _Three Days Grace_ band shirt from a concert he had once attended, Break proceeded to roast him until he got some sort of response, they sat in silence, and then had a measly conversation that barely escalated past thirty seconds- most of that was just silence, anyhow. Reim and him did a lot of work while here, yes, but they would go into a bit more detail about their lives, trade stories, talk casually about shows and interests. Hold a conversation, the way friends were supposed to... or, what Gilbert was sure friends were supposed to do.

He didn't understand this relationship, though, and he didn't understand Break. Did Break want to be friends, too? Did he feel obligated to associate with him because of Reim? Did _Gilbert_ feel obligated to associate with him because of Reim?

He liked Reim. He wanted to be friends with him. He would consider Reim a friend, honestly, but they've never explicitly established that they were in such a familiarity with each other, and the idea of suddenly saying it made Gilbert feel a little shy. Sharon, Reim's girlfriend, was lovely- Alice and her worked together, and she got along quite well with Oz. Gilbert had never spent a huge amount of time with her on his own, but he liked her for the most part. She seemed... mature, and had an aura of grace about her that transcended her age. Plus, she gave Alice a job when she needed something to make money while she figured herself out... and that was really cool of her. He would like to be friends with her, too, one day.

But Break?

The two men eventually fell into total silence again for a stretch of time. Gilbert went back to reading papers, Break went back to whatever he was doing (work? Social media stalking? Tweeting? One of each- several tabs open?), until the hours on his computer screen in the corner of the task bar added up. His eyes felt tired after a while and he debating ordering another coffee, going outside for a smoke, or just going home and finishing this up there.

Gilbert checked his phone to see what activity was going on. He had to swipe through several notifications about group chat activity- he belonged to two: one for him, Oz, and Alice, and one for his family. The family one was meant mainly for get together scheduling and family meeting times. Sometimes Vincent posted his selfies in the chat, but no one knew how to respond to them. The other one was used for many things, from Oz's memes, to Alice asking what dinner was going to be, to where people were going to be after they were done with all their adult responsibilities.

Looked like Oz and Alice were at home. Might as well go back- there was no reason to stay here. Even if Gilbert might get a bit distracted, both of his partners usually went to sleep before he did, so he could drink some coffee later on at night and get some more work done. It wasn't like anything would be missed here with this riveting experience with Break, and honestly, the older man might not even notice he would be gone.

Closing his laptop and beginning to pack up, Gilbert did take notice that Break had moved at some point to order a cheesecake. When and how was a complete mystery- Gilbert had been sitting across from him the entire time like they were on a date going horribly wrong, how had he not noticed that Break had moved? Did he move silently, like some form of ninja? The man was wearing the loudest shirt in existence, that was impossible.

Break did eventually look up at him, fork in mouth. Gilbert did an awkward half smile and he slid out of his chair, shouldering his laptop bag. Neither men spoke to each other, and Gilbert did debate trying to take a peek at what Break was doing on his computer, but had no idea how to do it without seeming obvious, so he decided against it.

"Leaving?" Break eventually asked, removing the fork from his mouth to gather up more cheesecake. Honestly, Gilbert had never seen this man consume anything that wasn't packed full of sugar. That _couldn't_ be healthy.

"Yeah. Figured I'd get started on dinner soon, and... probably do some work later..." he attempted explaining pathetically, not even sure why he bothered with giving some sort of excuse. He gave a half-wave with his right hand before pocketing it, starting to head out of this awkward, poor excuse of companionship.

"Alright," Break said, eye flickering back to his screen. "I'll let Reim know you asked about him. See you next time?"

Gilbert was sufficiently caught off guard, stopping dead in his tracks. He didn't know what to say to that, he actively did not expect it at all. He looked at Break, but the older man didn't meet his gaze, still looking at his computer screen. He opened his mouth and then closed it, knowing he looked like a fool in a public place, gaping like a fish, but... was this a thing now?

Two men, sitting in near silence with each other while they worked, barely communicating, barely looking at each other, except for the occasional sarcastic and shitty remark? Was this what they were going to do now?

That's not what he and Reim did. He and Reim were friends who didn't sit in silence and had nice, _normal_ conversations. He didn't understand this. He didn't understand a lot about Break.

But... that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Gilbert realized. It was different, but not awful- not even bad, really. Gilbert preferred the company over being alone, he noticed the absence when no one was here. It wasn't a picture-perfect friendship of two men bonding over coffee, but...

"Yeah," Gilbert eventually said, nodding his head and letting his face relax into a soft smile. "See you next time. Have a good one."

Break looked up and snorted at him as if he had said something absurd, waving dismissive hand at him. His fingers were long and pale, paler than Gilbert had ever seen before. "Yeah, yeah," he sighed, but he didn't sound particularly exasperated. Not in the slightest. "You too. Go listen to a band that's not shit for once."

Gilbert snorted, debated slamming the laptop screen closed, but decided to treat the other man to silence and take his leave properly and with dignity, not giving Break this one. This one. There'd be others.

Would he call Break a friend?

_Maybe._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> modern au gilbert, at any given time, probably: stfu this [rock and or grunge] is amazing!!!! i own all their albums and concert shirts :(
> 
> modern au literally anyone else, at any given time, probably: wow, thats

**Author's Note:**

> Some things to consider in this AU:
> 
> Oz is a college student. He just turned 20 and is studying Psychology.  
> Gilbert is a Home Economics professor. He is somewhere around 26-29.  
> Alice is 20 and doesn't fully know what she wants to do with her life yet. 
> 
> Sharon, Break, and Reim are also probably in a relationship with each other and will definitely show up at some point. Break is military and helps Sharon out with anything she could ever want. Sharon is the heir to a company and works as a hairdresser and makeup artist for fun and studies cosmetology. Reim will probably work at like Ikea or some sort of desk job, I'm not sure yet,,,


End file.
